■ .  ■  •<•<>•         — 


CHRISTOPHER  C.   BROWN. 


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1834-1904 


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IN  MEMORIAM 
CHRISTOPHER  C.  BROWN,  1834-1904. 


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(By  George  N.  Black.) 

We  can  not  but  feel  sad  when  we  realize  that  another  of  our  stead- 
fast members  has  been  stricken  down  by  the  hand  of  death.  Between 
the  departed  brother  and  myself  there  had  long  existed  the  closest 
bonds  of  friendship.  It  is  therefore  fitting  that  I  should  add  my 
tribute  of  respect  to  his  memory.  Eulogy  of  the  dead  is  the  conse- 
crated duty  and  privilege  of  the  living.  Our  tribute  is  not  rendered 
in  obedience  to  the  cold  and  stately  dictates  of  fashion.  It  has  its 
source  in  the  deepest  sympathies  of  the  human  heart.  For  it  is  right 
and  proper  to  tell  the  world  the  worth  of  those  whom  we  lament. 

In  the  removal  of  our  departed  friend  we  have  another  lesson  on 
the  uncertainty  of  life  and  the  certainty  of  death;  and  yet,  though 
these  lessons  come  to  us  so  often  we  dislike  to  be  taught  by  them, 
and  therefore  put  the  certain  as  far  away  as  possible,  as  if  that  would 
keep  it  from  coming  back  to  us.  It  is  a  lesson  taught  by  the 
proverbial  philosophies  of  the  world,  as  well  as  by  the  hard  facts  of 
experience.  We  all  remember  the  words  of  brave  Horatius,  as  he 
kept  the  bridge — 

'  'To  every  man  upon  this  earth 
Death  cometh  soon  or  late." 

— Macaulay. 

And  that  other  poet,  nearer  our  own  day,  who  shows  the  uncertainty 
of  time  and  place,  saying — 

'  'We  know  that  moons  shall  wax  and  wane, 
And  summer  birds  from  far  shall  cross  the  sea: 
But  who  can  tell  us  when  we'll  meet  with  death." 

The  time  may  be  uncertain,  but  "Death  spares  neither  king  nor  beg- 
gar.'' Knowing  this,  we  may  well  ask,  in  the  pathetic  words  of  Wil- 
liam Knox,  "O  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud?"  The  word 
of  God  tells  us  that  "Here  we  have  no  continuing  city." 

To  this  community  at  large  the  death  of  Mr.  C.  C.  Brown  was  a 
matter  of  real  regret,  and  to  us  who  knew  him  best  it  was  an  event 
full  of  sadness.  Those  of  us  who  were  associated  with  him  so  long 
mourn  his  loss  with  the  deepest  sorrow  and  regret,  for  he  had  won  a 
place  in  many  hearts.  He  was  a  member  of  a  family  which  has  long 
been  prominent  in  the  history  of  Sangamon  county;  and  they  have 
always  been  men  of  character,  ability  and  true  social  worth.    We  may 


call  Mr.  Brown  a  representative  man,  a  son  of  the  soil,  because  he  was 
born  in  the  State.  He  came  to  Springfield  early  in  life.  He  grew 
up  with  the  growth  of  the  city,  and  was  identified  with  its  greatness. 
He  was  a  man  of  the  highest  integrity,  unblemished  morals,  and  of 
the  noblest  distinction  in  the  line  of  duty.  He  was  a  man  of  kindly 
impulses,  and  always  ready  to  aid  the  unfortunate.  He  was  a  helper 
of  the  helpless,  and  a  giver  of  strength  to  those  who  had  no  strength. 
He  always  had  a  kind  word  and  a  helping  hand  to  those  who  needed 
them.  Like  Abou  Ben  Adhem  he  was  "One  who  loved  his  fellow- 
men." 

Our  departed  brother  has  gone  hence  to  return  no  more  forever;  but 
the  memory  of  his  good  words  and  kindly  deeds  will  long  survive, 
embalmed  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  knew  him  and  appreciated  his 
worth.  Few  people  realize  how  much  good  he  did  in  his  quiet  way. 
For  as  old  George  Herbert  quaintly  remarks,  "Good  words  are  worth 
much  and  cost  little."  His  was  the  charity  that  shuns  publicity  and 
which  follows  our  Lord's  well  remembered  injunction,  and  "doeth  its 
alms  in  secret,"  not  desiring  to  be  seen  of  men.  It  will  be  readily 
understood  that  of  the  best  portion  of  a  good  man's  life,  his  little, 
nameless,  unremembered  acts  of  kindness  and  of  love,  are  those  that 
are  worth  most.  No  record  of  them  is  kept,  except  on  high,  or  in 
the  grateful  hearts  of  those  who  have  been  benefited  and  relieved. 
The  world  knows  little  or  nothing  of  them  now,  but  the  record  will  be 
revealed  hereafter,  when  the  plaudit  comes,  "What  ye  did  unto  mine, 
ye  did  unto  me." 

One  who  knew  the  worth  of  a  dead  friend  (a  friend  who  was  missed 
and  mourned,  like  ours)  has  written  some  very  appropriate  lines, 
which  may  be  applied  truthfully  to  our  deceased  friend — our  loved 
and  lost. 

"To  the  last  hour,  when  the  last  man  shall  die, 
And  our  race  shall  cease  to  be,  death  never  came, 
And  never  will  come  without  affliction. 
The  dying  may  be  ready  to  depart, 
For  sleep  and  death  are  one  to  them,  but  we 
Who  love  them  and  are  left  to  mourn,  to  whom 
The  place  once  rilled  by  them  is  filled  no  more, 
From  us  a  light  has  gone,  the  sun  seems  dark, 
A  shadow  fallen  at  high-noon.    To  us 
A  consternation  and  a  lamentation, 
The  sorrow  of  all  sorrows  shall  descend, 
And  shall  with  us  abide,  till  in  our  turn 
We  follow  them,  and  others  mourn  for  us." 

It  would  seem  proper  that  just  here  something  should  be  said  as 
to  who  Mr.  Brown  was,  what  he  was,  and  how  he  became  the  man 
he  was.  He  was  a  member  of  the  hardy  Scotch-Irish  race  drawn  from 
the  province  of  Ulster.  Ulster  was  settled  by  a  colony  which  went 
forth  from  the  "land  of  brown  heath  and  shaggy  wood,"  in  search  of  a 
new  home  less  bleak  than  the  bare  hillsides  of  western  Scotlano1.  They 
took  with  them  their  Scottish  characteristics  and  their  Scottish 
Calvinism  to  their  new  home  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  and  then  to  the 
Western  World  when  they  crossed  the  broad  Atlantic.  Heredity 
made  Mr.  Brown  what  he  was,  because  "blood  will  tell." 

Mr.  Christopher  C.  Brown  was  born  in  the  village  of  Athens,  then 
in  Sangamon  county,  111.,  (though  now  in  Menard  county).  He  was 
born  on  October  21st,  1884,  and  was  the  son  of  William  Bartlett 


Brown  and  Harriet  Lowry  Brown.  His  father  and  mother  with  five 
children,  moved  from  Greensburg,  Kentucky,  to  Athens  in  November 
1833.  Prior  to  this  removal  to  Illinois,  William  B.  Brown's  brother- 
in-law,  James  D.  Allen,  had  settled  at  Athens,  and  engaged  in  the 
mercantile  business.  Mr.  C.  0.  Brown's  mother  was  the  daughter  of 
Captain  David  Allen,  who  served  in  the  War  of  1812,  and  took  an 
active  part  in  the  Indian  wars  of  the  "Dark  and  Bloody  Ground." 
She  was  born  December  17th,  1806,  and  was  married  to  William  B. 
Brown,  on  December  31st,  1822,  at  Greensburg,  Kentucky.  She  died 
October  7th,  1835,  at  Athens.  It  is  recorded  of  her  that  she  had  a 
cultivated  miud,  an  amiable  disposition,  and,  above  all,  a  lovely 
Christian  character.  William  B.  Brown,  his  father,  was  born  at 
Greensburg,  Kentucky,  on  February  2d,  1802.  About  the  time  of  his 
marriage  he  entered  into  partnership  with  his  father,  Daniel  Brown, 
who  was  of  Scotch -Irish  parentage,  born  at  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  in 
September  1765.  He  is  mentioned  in  Allen's  History  of  Kentucky, 
as  a  man  of  most  exemplary  piety  and  a  ruling  elder  of  the  Presby- 
terian church  for  nearly  fifty  years.  His  mother,  nee  Theresa  Bart- 
lett,  was  born  at  Beverly,  Massachusetts,  on  January  14th,  1782. 
She  was  a  near  relative  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Findley,  President  of 
Princeton  College,  and  an  eminent  scholar  and  great  divine  in  his 
day. 

Soon  after  his  mother's  death,  which  took  place,  in  1835,  the  child 
Christopher,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  his  uncle,  Daniel  C.  Brown, 
who  was  married  and  childless,  was  taken  to  Kentucky  by  his  father, 
and  placed  in  the  uncle's  care.  When  the  uncle  died  in  1840,  the 
child  was  sent  to  live  at  Greensburg,  with  his  grandparents.  W7hile 
living  with  them,  before  he  was  ten  years  of  age,  he  spent  two  winters 
at  Hodgenville,  Kentucky,  where  he  boarded  with  an  aunt.  When  at 
Greensburg,  he  attended  the  school  known  as  "The  Seminary." 
Early  in  1841  his  grandfather  being  quite  old,  after  a  consultation  of 
the  relatives,  it  was  thought  best  to  send  him  home  to  his  father  in 
Illinois.  In  June  of  that  year  he  started  from  Greensburg  for 
Louisville  in  a  covered  wagon,  At  Louisville  he  took  a  steamboat 
for  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  and  sailed  upon  the  same  river  which 
Dickens,  two  years  earlier,  thought  so  monotonous  and  so  wearisome. 
In  writing  of  this  trip,  the  lad  says  he  had  never  seen  a  steamboat 
till  then,  and  he  was  charmed  with  his  journey.  He  stopped  at 
"Barnum's,"  the  leading  hotel  of  that  day.  (St.  Louis  had  only 
about  40,000  inhabitants  then;  but  was  regarded  as  the  "Great  City" 
of  the  "West.)  He  took  a  steamboat  to  Meredosia,  Illinois,  and  reached 
that  place  late  in  the  evening.  He  had  to  ride  in  a  skiff  to  the  hotel, 
and  had  to  enter  it  through  a  second  story  window  because  the  river 
was  in  high  flood.  He  says  that  he  was  greatly  disappointed  when 
the  landlord  told  him  that  he  had  nothing  for  supper  but  cocoanut 
milk  He  drank  a  cup  full  of  it,  and  went  to  bed  with  the  water 
washing  all  sides  of  the  hotel.  From  Meredosia  to  Jacksonville  he 
was  hauled  in  a  wagon  drawn  by  a  mule  team,  over  wooden  ties,  and 
from  there  to  Springfield  in  a  two  horse  wagon.  On  his  arrival  at 
Springfield,  he  was  taken  to  the  residence  of  a  relative,  Colonel  Robert 
Allen,  and  there  met  his  brother  Daniel,  who  was  attending  school  at 


that  place.  His  father  was  living  at  Sangamontown,  seven  miles 
northwest  of  Springfield.  He  was  superintending  a  flour  mill,  which 
was  run  by  water  and  steam  power;  he  had  also  a  lathing  mill,  which 
was  managed  by  his  two  sons,  Daniel  and  David.  In  it  they  sawed  all 
the  lath  used  in  building  the  first  State  house  at  Springfield,  now  the 
Sangamon  county  court  house.  On  account  of  the  high  water  in 
Spring  creek,  it  was  some  days  before  he  could  reach  his  father's 
house.  He  describes  his  father  at  that  time  as  being  six  feet  in 
height,  weighing  about  two  hundred  pounds,  and  having  hair  as 
white  as  the  driven  snow.  He  was  forty-two  years  of  age,  and  was 
known  in  the  neighborhood  as  "Squire  Brown."  When  any  one  was 
sick  in  the  vicinity  he  was  sent  for  as  a  doctor;  if  the  patient  died  Mr. 
Brown  was  the  person  to  see  that  the  dead  was  properly  buried. 
If  any  legal  difficulty  arose  in  the  neighborhood  he  was  consulted  as 
a  lawyer.  In  a  word,  he  was  the  "man  of  the  neighborhood,"'  and 
was  universally  loved  and  respected  by  all  who  knew  him.  He  said 
that  he  had  known  his  father  to  spend  days  and  nights  with  the 
neighbors  in  those  chill  and  fever  days,  administering  medicine  bought 
at  his  own  expense  for  their  relief,  and  never  knew  him  to  receive 
one  dollar  in  compensation  for  either  legal  or  medical  services.  Mr. 
Brown,  in  speaking  of  his  step-mother,  writes  that  some  years  before 
his  return  to  Illinois  his  father  had  married  a  most  estimable  woman, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Lorinda  Buckman.  She  was  born  on  Sept. 
9th,  1815,  at  Potsdam,  New  York.  He  bears  testimony  to  her  faith- 
fulness as  a  wife  and  mother,  not  only  to  her  own.  but  to  her  step- 
children. She  gave  birth  to  six  children,  Joel  B.,  Hulda,  Sebastian, 
Mary,  Frank  B.,  and  James  B.  Brown.  She  died  on  Sept.  9th,  1892, 
aged  seventy-seven  years.  Mr.  Brown's  father  lived  at  Sangamon- 
town until  1847,  and  at  that  time  he  bought  a  small  farm  of  twenty-rive 
acres,  with  no  improvements,  about  one  mile  from  Sangamontown,  and 
soon  after  bought  a  log  house,  a  story  and  a  half  high,  which  he  moved 
on  to  this  small  farm.  Christopher  C.  Brown  went  to  school  during  the 
winter  in  1844-45;  his  father  being  the  teacher,  and  worked  in  summer 
cutting  wood,  milking  cows,  washing  dishes,  and  doing  anything  that 
turned  up  in  the  line  of  work.  His  father  was  a  justice  of  the  peace 
and  he  frequently  heard  Abraham  Lincoln,  E.  D.  Baker,  John  T. 
Stuart,  Stephen  T.  Logan,  and  other  members  of  the  Springfield  bar, 
arguing  cases  before  him.  Hearing  these  arguments  doubtless  fired 
him  with  an  ambition,  even  at  that  early  age,  to  become  a  lawyer. 
His  brothers,  David  and  Daniel,  had  opened  a  drug  store  at  Peters- 
burg, and  in  1849  he  joined  them  to  learn  the  business,  and  continued 
with  them  until  the  fall  of  1851.  During  his  stay  there  he  attended 
the  academy  two  winters.  In  the  fall  of  1851  he  was  sent  to  Hills- 
boro,  Illinois,  to  attend  the  Lutheran  college  at  that  place,  then  under 
the  charge  of  the  Rev.  Francis  Springer.  His  father  moved  to 
Taylorville  to  open  a  drug  store,  and  the  young  student  left  Hillsboro 
and  went  to  assist  his  father  in  this  new  venture.  His  father's  health 
failed  soon  after  going  to  Taylorville,  and  he  with  his  family  moved 
to  Petersburg  to  be  under  the  care  of  a  physician,  but  he  continued 
to  grow  worse,  and  in  his  fifty-first  year  he  died.  After  his  fathers 
death   his   brother   David   moved   to  Springfield  to  engage   in   the 


practice  of  law,  and  the  young  student  left  Petersburg  and 
lived  with  his  brother  David,  reading  law  and  attending  school  part 
of  the  time  at  the  Illinois  Lutheran  college.  In  the  fall  of 
1855,  he  went  to  Lexington,  Ky.,  and  attended  the  law  school  of 
Transylvania  University.  But  his  means  would  not  permit  his  spend- 
ing more  than  one  session  at  the  law  school,  and  he  returned  to 
Springfield,  where  he  studied  closely  and  soon  made  application  for  a 
license  to  practice  law.  The  Supreme  Court  appointed  Abraham  Lin- 
coln and  William  H.  Herndon  to  examine  him,  and  Mr.  Brown  used 
to  tell  laughingly,  how  easy  his  examination  was.  When  he  appeared 
before  his  two  examiners,  Mr.  Lincoln,  said:  w'Now  Chris,  we  think 
we  know  your  fitness  to  be  a  lawyer,  and  we  don't  think  you  need  to 
be  examined.  If  you  can  win  cases,  you'll  succeed,  if  you  can't  win 
them  you'll  fail.  It's  all  in  these  two  points  that  success  or  failure 
lies.  But  Herndon  and  I  think  you  have  grit  enough  in  you  to  suc- 
ceed, and  we  both  know  you'll  try  your  hardest.  So  we'll  sign  your 
recommendation  for  you.'"  "'When  they  had  done  so,  they  shook  hands 
with  me,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  said:  'Go  on  and  prosper.  The  world's 
before  you,  and  we  are  sure  you'll  do  well  at  the  Bar."  That  was  all. 
On  their  recommendation,  the  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court  issued  him 
a  license  in  1857.  He  then  entered  into  partnership  with  his  brother 
David,  in  the  practice  of  the  law.  In  the  spring  of  1857  he  ran  for 
city  attorney  on  a  Citizens'  ticket,  and  was  defeated  by  Mr.  Charles 
A.  Keyes,  who  was  the  Democratic  candidate,  (the  Democrats  had  a 
large  majority  in  the  city,  and  he  was  defeated  by  thirty  votes).  About 
this  time  his  brother  was  advised  to  give  up  the  law  business  owing 
to  poor  health,  and  he  moved  to  a  farm  a  few  miles  from  the  city. 
Upon  this,  Mr.  C.  C.  Brown  went  to  Cairo,  111.,  to  practice  law,  and 
take  charge  of  some  property  in  which  some  of  the  prominent  citizens 
of  Springfield  had  invested  money.  He  lived  there  one  year,  was 
successful  in  the  practice  of  law  and  real  estate  speculation.  While 
there  he  took  an  active  part  in  all  enterprises  that  tended  to  advance 
the  material  and  moral  interests  of  the  city.  He  was  selected  by 
the  citizens  to  deliver  the  Fourth  of  July  oration,  and  his  address  was 
highly  commended  by  the  people  and  the  public  press.  In  after 
years,  in  speaking  of  this  speech  he  said  it  was  a  regular  patriotic 
address,  the  best  he  could  make.  He  tried  to  please  the  people.  It 
began  with  the  causes  of  the  revolution  and  traced  it's  course  from 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  down  through  the  long  struggle,  be- 
ginning with  the  first  shot  fired  at  Lexington  to  the  surrender  of 
Cornwallis  at  Yorktown.  But,  he  was  wont  to  add,  "it  was  not  a 
"spread  eagle"  speech,  meant  to  tickle  the  crowd  and  pander  to  their 
baser  feelings.  You  may  be  su?*e  that  I  did  my  very  best  in  it." 
And  we  see  it  was  a  success.  He  also  took  quite  an  active  part  in 
politics  as  a  Republican,  and  in  the  spring  of  1858,  made  a  speech 
before  the  first  Republican  convention  ever  held  at  Cairo,  or  in  Egypt. 
Ho  was  appointed,  by  Governor  Bissell,  public  administrator  of 
Alexander  county,  (the  first  office  he  ever  held).  Judge  Lightner 
made  him  school  commissioner  of  the  same  county,  with  power  to  ex- 
amine teachers  and  issue  certificates  of  qualification.  He  knew 
almost  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  Cairo,  which  had  then  about 


four  thousand  inhabitants.  As  an  evidence  of  the  esteem  in  which  he 
was  held,  it  may  be  stated  that  when  he  left  Cairo  to  return  to  Spring- 
field, a  gathering  of  two  or  three  hundred  citizens  accompanied  him 
to  the  train  to  bid  him  good  bye.  In  later  years  he  affiliated  with  the 
Democratic  party,  though  he  was  never  an  intense  partisan.  At 
Springfield,  he  opened  an  office  and  resumed  his  practice  as  a  lawyer. 
On  October  20th,  1859,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Jane  Stuart  (daughter  of  Major  John  T.  Stuart).  Of  this  union  were 
born  three  children,  Stuart,  on  August  21st,  1860;  Edwards,  on  May 
31st,  1863,  and  Paul,  on  January  20th,  1868.  Paul  died  on  August 
22nd,  1880;  the  other  two  children  are  still  living. 

On  January  1st,  1860,  upon  the  solicitation  of  Judge  Benj.  S.  Ed- 
wards, he  entered  as  a  partner  into  the  office  of  Stuart  &  Edwards  (a  law 
partnership  which  had  existed  from  1843  to  that  date).  The  name  of  the 
new  firm  was  changed  to  Stuart,  Edwards  &  Brown,  and  this  firm 
continued  until  the  death  of  Major  Stuart,  on  November  28th,  1885. 
After  this  Judge  Edwards  and  Mr.  Brown  remained  together  until 
death  called  away  Mr.  Edwards,  on  February  4th,  1886.  These  firms 
ranked  high  among  the  lawyers,  and  had  an  immense  practice  in  the 
various  courts.  Mr.  Brown,  as  the  junior  member,  was  kept  very 
busy.  After  Judge  Edwards5  death,  Mr.  Brown  took  his  son  Stuart 
into  partnership  for  some  months,  and  then  Judge  William  J.  Allen, 
of  Southern  Illinois,  entered  the  firm,  which  was  called  Allen,  Brown 
&  Brown.  When  Judge  Allen  was  appointed  judge  of  the  U.  S.  Dis- 
trict Court,  Judge  Samuel  P.  Wheeler,  of  Cairo,  111.,  entered  the  firm, 
and  the  name  was  changed  to  Brown,  Wheeler  &  Brown.  In  Novem- 
ber, 1897,  Mr.  Logan  Hay  entered  the  firm,  and  its  name  was  again 
changed  to  Brown,  Wheeler,  Brown  &  Hay. 

Mr.  Brown's  first  wife  died  March  2,  1869,  and  about  three  years 
later  he  married  at  Chicago  on  June  4th,  1872,  Mrs.  Caroline  Owsley 
Farnsworth,  daughter  of  John  E.  Owsley,  formerly  of  Springfield. 
Of  this  union  were  born  three  children,  Elizabeth  Jane,  on  May  4th. 
1873;  Amelia,  on  January  24th,  1875,  and  Owsley,  on  May  28th,  1877, 
Amelia  died  in  infancy.     The  other  two  children  are  still  living. 

Mr.  Brown  had  many  honors  conferred  upon  him  during  his  life 
time.  Among  them  he  was  appointed  school  superintendent  of 
Alexander  county,  Illinois.  He  was  made  alderman  of  the  old  Third 
ward  of  Springfield,  on  the  Republican  ticket,  and  while  filling  that 
office  he  introduced  and  had  passed  the  ordinance  for  sewering  the 
"town  branch,"  into  which  the  most  of  the  sewers  of  the  city  are  now 
emptied.  We  can  thus  justly  claim  that  he  was  the  Father  of  the 
sewerage  system  of  Springfield.  He  was  president  or  trustee  of  the 
Springfield  Public  Library  from  1881  to  1901,  during  which  years  it 
became  in  books  and  circulation  the  third  largest  public  library  in 
the  State.  In  1888  he  was  chosen,  by  the  Gfeneral  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  the  L'nited  States,  as  a  delegate  to  the  Pan- 
Presbyterian  Council  which  met  in  Exeter  Hall,  London.  He  took 
part  in  the  convention  and  when  it  closed  he  visited,  in  company  with 
his  wife  and  two  youngest  children,  most  of  the  countries  of  Central 
Europe,  going  as  far  east  as  Prague.  It  was  a  delightful  trip, 
which  he  always  remembered  and  referred  to  with  much  pleasure. 


He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Bettie  Stuart  Institute.  He 
contributed  very  liberally  at  the  beginning  of  the  institute  in 
1868,  and  made  many  donations  to  it  up  to  the  time  of  his  death. 
(The  institute  was  named  in  memory  of  his  deceased  wife.)  He  was 
president  of  the  Springfield  boiler  and  manufacturing  company,  and 
president  of  the  Latham  coal  Company.  He  was  vice-president  of 
the  Sangamon  loan  and  trust  company.  A  leading  stockholder  in 
the  Woodside  coal  company;  trustee  of  the  Lincoln  Monument 
Association;  director  of  the  McCormick  Theological  Seminary;  and 
director  of  the  Springfield  furniture  company.  He  was  superintendent 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Sunday  school,  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  and 
Ruling  Elder  in  the  same  church  for  thirty-seven  years. 

Mr.  C.  0.  Brown  was  in  his  seventieth  year  when  he  died.  He  had 
not  been  in  robust  health  for  some  years,  and  five  or  six  years 
previous  to  his  death  he  consulted  an  eminent  physician  in 
Chicago,  who,  after  a  thorough  examination  and  diagnosis, 
pronounced  his  malady  Bright's  disease.  Although  Mr.  Brown 
realized  that  he  had  not  many  years  to  live,  he  continued  to  maintain 
his  bright  and  sunny  disposition;  he  never  alluded  to  his  real  condi- 
tion, not  wishing  to  alarm  his  friends,  and  to  all  appearance  was  in 
fairly  good  health  up  to  within  a  few  weeks  of  his  death.  He  had 
been  ailing  for  a  few  days  before  he  died,  but  no  one  expected  a  fatal 
termination  to  his  sickness,  at  that  time.  But  the  hour  of  his  de- 
parture was  at  hand.  He  heard  his  Master's  call,  and  he  responded 
to  it.  His  passing  away  was  like  the  departure  of  a  weary  soul  worn 
out  with  the  toils  and  trials  of  this  wilderness  world.  His  work  was 
done,  he  had  earned  his  rest;  and  God  gave  him  a  new  day,  for  death 
to  him  was  the  Grate  of  Life.  Our  friend  passed  away  quietly  in  the 
night.  It  is  believed  that  death  came  to  him  suddenly  and  painlessly. 
The  immediate  cause  of  his  death  was  given  out  as  angina  pectoris, 
more  popularly  known  as  neuralgia  of  the  heart.  As  the  real  fatal 
illness  lasted  but  a  little  while,  it  left  no  time  for  a  death-bed  testi- 
mony, but  his  testimony  had  been  given  already.  It  was  seen  in  his 
whole  life — a  life  which  in  no  ordinary  degree  adorned  the  doctrine  of 
God  his  Saviour.  It  was  a  life  of  quiet  unostentatious  service.  If 
the  best  proofs  of  true  religion  lie  in  its  fruits,  the  proof  of  our  friend's 
religion  was  sure.  For  his  good  works  were  uniform  and  permanent, 
not  spasmodic.  As  a  Christian  he  grew  in  grace  as  he  grew  in  years. 
He  was  a  living  epistle  known  and  read  of  all  men.  One  who  knew 
him  well  said,  after  his  death, — "If  this  world  was  made  up  of  men 
6uch  as  Christopher  C.  Brown,  it  would  be  almost  a  heaven  on  earth." 
Although  Mr.  Brown  was  so  strongly  attached  to  his  own  chosen  reli- 
gious faith,  he  was  inclined  to  liberality  in  matters  of  religion,  being 
entirely  free  from  all  forms  of  bigotry,  and  not  disposed  to  force  his 
opinions  upon  others. 

Our  departed  friend  had  the  hope  and  the  consolation  of  the 
Christian  faith.     He  believed  with  Tennyson: 

"For  though  from  out  our  bourne  of  Time  and  Place, 

The  rlood  may  bear  me  far, 
I  hope  to  see  my  pilot  face  to  face, 

When  1  have  crossed  the  bar." 


10 

A  faith  like  that  takes  away  the  fear  of  death.  He  has  crossed  the 
bar.  to  our  sorrow,  but  to  his  gaiu.  And  yet  he  is  not  lost,  but  only 
gone  before.  Longfellow  in  his  beautiful  poem  on  "Resignation," 
says: 

'  'There  is  no  death !    What  seems  so  is  transition ; 
This  life  of  mortal  breath 
Is  but  a  suburb  of  the  life  elysian 
Whose  portals  we  call  death." 

And  Cicero  tells  us,  "That  last  day  (of  death)  does  not  bring  extinc- 
tion to  us,  but  change  of  place."  And  so  thought  most  of  the  great 
thinkers  of  ancient  Greece  and  Romo. 

His  pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  D.  Logan,  said  in  his  funeral  ser- 
mon: "In  the  death  of  Mr.  C.  C.  Brown,  our  church  has  lost  its 
Barnabas.  Throughout  his  long  and  useful  life  he  has  been  a  true 
'son  of  consolation.'  Nature  endowed  him  with  a  commanding  and 
inspiring  presence  and  a  sunny  disposition,  which  grace  sweetened 
and  sanctified.  He  always  reminded  me  of  John  Bunyan's  Mr.  Great- 
heart,  for  his  heart  overflowed  with  generous  impulses.  He  was  a 
christian  gentleman  of  the  best  type  of  the  old  school.  In  his  tongue 
was  the  law  of  kindness.  It  was  his  constant  desire  to  smooth  the 
pathway  before  his  fellowmen,  and  to  make  all  within  the  sphere  of 
his  influence  feel  comfortable  and  happy.  *  *  *  He  knew  what  he  be- 
lieved, and  why  he  believed  it.  There  was  no  uncertainty  as  to  his 
principles.  He  was  a  man  you  could  safely  tie  to,  for  you  always 
found  him  just  there.  *  *  *  He  illustrated  for  our  day  the  meaning 
of  Sampson's  riddle,  suggested  by  the  swarm  of  bees  that  had  its  hive 
in  the  carcass  of  a  lion,  'Out  of  the  strong  came  forth  sweetness'." 

The  old  Greek  satirist,  Lucian,  in  his  "Dialogues  of  the  Dead," 
represents  Mercury  as  classing  the  aged  among  those  who  die  unla- 
mented.  Our  departed  friend  was  old  in  years.  He  had  reached  the 
allotted  three  score  years  and  ten,  when  men  expect  to  be  in  "the  sere 
and  yellow  leaf",  but  his  death  was  greatly  lamented,  even  with  bitter 
tears.  At  his  funeral  service,  in  despite  of  a  heavy  rain,  the  church 
was  filled.  All  classes  and  conditions  were  there;  rich  and  poor,  high 
and  low,  to  show  their  respect  for  him  they  would  see  no  more.  He 
was  well  beloved,  and  there  were  good  reasons  for  it.  His  genial  dis- 
position, his  noble  and  manly  qualities,  his  enduring  and  loving  de- 
votion to  his  friends,  and  his  utterly  unselfish  nature,  won  him  hosts 
of  friends,  and  many  were  those  who  sorrowed  for  his  death.  Few 
dry  eyes  were  among  the  people  as  the  service  closed,  and  the  remains 
were  carried  away  to  the  narrow  house,  the  last  abode  of  all. 

And  now,  a  few  parting  words.  He  lived,  he  loved,  he  labored  and 
he  died.  That  is  the  story  of  nearly  every  human  life;  but  I  may 
add  to  our  departed  friend's  record,  that  he  lived  for  a  purpose,  and 
the  world  is  the  better  because  he  has  lived  in  it.  He  died  leaving 
behind  him  a  memory  fragrant  with  the  perfume  of  many  kindly  and 
generous  deeds  and  words.  There  is  an  old  maxim  which  had  struck 
its  roots  deep  into  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  men  before  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  uttered  His  Divine  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  before  the 
Greek  sages  taught  the  Athenians  the  precepts  of  right  living,  and 
even  before  Confucius,  in  the  darker  obscurity  of  antiquity,  illumined 
the  civilization  of  his  time  by  the  doctrine  of  peace  on  earth  and  good 


11 

will  to  men.  That  ancient  maxim  was,  "Of  the  dead  speak  nothing 
but  good."  And  I  can  safely  follow  its  teachings  to-day.  To  say 
that  our  departed  friend  was  faultless,  would  be  to  bestow  upon  him 
the  attributes  of  the  Deity.  He  was  a  man,  and  he  had  frailties  and 
weaknesses  like  others  of  the  human  race.  But  he  tried  to  do  justly, 
to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  God.  And  that  is  what  the 
Lord  reqiiires  of  every  man  who  seeks  to  walk  aright  before  him. 
May  we  all  be  able  to  follow  our  brother's  example  in  this;  and  may 
we  never  forget  that  we  too  are  mortal. 

I  would  gladly  say  more  in  praise  of  our  lamented  friend,  but  I 
have  neither  the  scholar's  pen,  nor  the  poet's  fancy;  besides,  I  think 
them  needless  in  this  instance.  His  deeds  speak  more  eloquently 
than  my  words  would.  But  the  beautiful  poem  of  Fitz- Greene  Halleck 
to  the  memory  of  Joseph  Rodman  Drake  expresses  just  what  I  would 
like  to  have  written  if  I  could.     I  will  quote  a  few  of  the  lines — 

"Green  be  the  turf  above  thee 

Friend  of  my  better  days; 
None  knew  thee  but  to  love  thee ! 

None  named  thee  but  to  praise. 

When  hearts,  whose  truth  was  proven, 

Like  thine,  are  laid  in  earth, 
There  should  a  wreath  be  woven 

To  tell  the  world  their  worth. 

It  should  be  mine  to  braid  it 

Around  thy  faded  brow. 
But  I've  in  vain  essayed  it, 

And  feel  I  cannot  now. 

While  memory  bids  me  weep  thee, 

Nor  thoughts  nor  words  are  free, 
The  grief  is  fixed  too  deeply 

That  mourns  a  man  like  thee." 

I  need  add  nothing  to  these  eloquent  verses,  and  language  would 
fail  me  to  say  all  that  I  would  like  to  say  about  our  departed  and 
lamented  brother  and  associate.  I  cannot,  therefore,  better  close 
this  inadequate  memorial  tribute  than  by  bidding  him  farewell.  A 
last  farewell  to  him  who  was  as  a  friend  and  a  brother  to  me,  a  true 
comrade  in  the  battle  of  life.  "Brother,  fare-thee-well,  but  not 
forever!     May  my  soul,  when  my  hour  comes,  be  with  thine!" 


